“Sometimes your best idea is the one you threw away like a moldy sandwich.”
GhostSlacker was sleeping inside a glass display case when a woman started beating it with her purse.
“Sir! You’re lying on a priceless work of art!”
GhostSlacker opened one eye.
“Lady, it’s a beanbag chair.”
He was visiting the Museum of Modern Writing.
The museum had paid $12 million for a collection of famous opening lines.
One wall held a single sentence written in gold.
Another displayed a pencil behind bulletproof glass.
GhostSlacker had come for the free air conditioning.
Then something strange happened.
A crowd gathered around a garbage can.
People were laughing.
Taking pictures.
Reading something taped to the lid.
GhostSlacker crawled out of his glass case.
On the trash can was a sticky note he’d tossed away earlier.
It read:
“I spent four hours trying to write one stupid opening line. Then I ate a sandwich and gave up.”
A woman pointed at it.
“That’s me EVERY Tuesday!”
GhostSlacker blinked.
He’d spent all morning writing a fancy opening for Hook Miners.
Nobody cared.
But his angry little trash note?
People loved it.
He opened I Didn’t Expect This and fed it his strange discovery.
The tool turned it into:
“I spent four hours polishing the perfect opening line. Then a stupid note I almost threw away got more attention. Here’s what I didn’t see coming.”
GhostSlacker stared at the screen.
“Well, that’s rude. Even my garbage writes better hooks than me.”
The museum director rushed over.
“We want to buy your sticky note!”
“How much?”
“Fifty thousand dollars!”
GhostSlacker smiled.
Then the director pointed at the beanbag chair.
“But first, you’ll need to pay for the priceless sculpture you slept on.”
GhostSlacker froze.
“How much?”
“Twelve million.”
He looked at the garbage can.
“Got anything bigger I can hide in?”
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